Little is known about the early development of deaf children. The basic deprivation of profound deafness is deprivation of language. Language lies at the heart of communication and communication lies at the heart of relationship. The negotiation of the early deaf child/mother relationship is assumed to be difficult yet not less important for the deaf child than his more fortunate hearing peers. The specific aim is to describe the psychological process of separation and individuation in profoundly deaf children. Approximately ten (10) profoundly deaf children, diagnosed under the age of two years, will be studied from the time of diagnosis for one year. Sources of data will be (a) initial interview with child's mother, (b) comprehensive developmental evaluation upon entry and exit from the study, (c) participant observation with mother and child in the home on a monthly basis, and (d) monthly videotaping of mother/child interaction during free play. Data from each source will be analyzed separately and the results described. The results from each source will be integrated to describe the process of separation and individuation within the context of overall development. Results will be compared to those existing for both hearing and blind children. The particular hazards that deafness presents in the negotiation of the early mother/child relationship is unknown. Blindness has been found to present significant problems to the development of an optimal mother/child relationship. This investigation will not only potentially help individual mother/child pairs but also illuminate the role of sound and hearing in the development of the early mother/child relationship in hearing dyads. The development of the early dyadic relationship has long been both a clinical and research interest of nurses. This research has important implications for the nursing care of children.